Afro-International Feminist Organizing School: Grounding Feminist Organizing in Ubuntu

9–19 September 2026 · Kajiado, Kenya

The first-ever Afro-International Feminist Organizing School (Afro-IFOS) is bringing together feminists from across Africa in Kajiado, Kenya, from 9 to 19 September 2026, hosted by the World March of Women Kenya. Grounded in the principle of Ubuntu, the school is creating a space for collective political education, exchange and movement-building, rooted in the diverse realities and struggles of women across the African continent.

From its first days, Afro-IFOS has sought to go beyond conventional approaches to political education. It is a space to learn from one another, connect personal experiences with broader political realities, understand how systems of oppression operate, and collectively reflect on the power needed to transform them.

Ubuntu: from principle to political practice

Ubuntu, often expressed through the idea that “I am because we are”,  was at the heart of the school’s opening. Rather than treating Ubuntu as an abstract concept to be defined, participants were invited to explore what it means to practise it within feminist movements.

The discussions opened questions around relationality, dignity, care, reciprocity, inclusion, difference, accountability and repair. What does it mean to truly recognise one another? How do we create spaces where different forms of knowledge are valued and everyone can participate meaningfully? How can we disagree politically without abandoning our relationships? And when harm occurs, how can movements take responsibility, seek justice and practise repair?

One of the most powerful reflections came through a personal experience of grief. A participant shared how, after the death of her grandmother, her community came together to support the family. People contributed not only money, but food, chairs, cooking, cleaning and whatever else was needed. The burden of loss became a collective responsibility.

In that experience, Ubuntu became tangible: people showing up with whatever they had.

This reflection speaks to a central question for feminist organizing: if we say that we belong to a movement, does this mean that another person’s dignity, safety, grief and struggle become, in some way, our collective concern?

Ubuntu therefore emerged not simply as a value, but as a way of organizing, shaping how movements share knowledge, distribute responsibility, make room for differences, respond to harm and build collective power.

Understanding Systems of Oppression

The second day of the school moved from grounding the collective to examining the systems that shape women’s lives and struggles.

Participants explored the root causes, mechanisms and effects of different forms of oppression, asking not only what oppression looks like but why it persists, how it is reproduced, and who benefits from the systems that sustain it.

The discussions also focused on the different ways power operates. Participants examined visible forms of “power over”, exercised through institutions, laws, rules, and force, while also exploring hidden and invisible forms of power.

Invisible power can shape what people understand as normal, possible, or acceptable. Hidden power can determine whose voices are heard, who gets to participate and which issues reach the political agenda.

Understanding these different forms of power is essential for feminist organizing. It allows movements to move beyond simply naming injustice and instead ask: Where does power sit? How is it maintained? Who benefits from it? And where is our collective power to challenge and transform it?

Bringing together feminists from different contexts across Africa also made clear that systems of oppression may take different forms and have different histories, while remaining interconnected. Political education thus became a collective process of making connections between lived experiences, structures and possibilities for resistance.

Learning beyond the classroom

Afro-IFOS also understands political education as something that happens beyond formal sessions.

On the third day, participants stepped outside the classroom to visit Nairobi National Park and the Nairobi Safari Walk, reflecting on the relationship between people, land and nature, and on the particular realities of a city where wildlife conservation exists alongside a vibrant urban culture.

The day continued with music, dance and collective celebration. Afro Cure, a local group of teenage dancers, welcomed participants with performances and invited them to dance together. Local artist Kake wa Kake facilitated a drum circle, creating another space for connection and collective expression.

These moments of joy and cultural exchange were followed by a return to Kenya’s history of resistance. Archivist and researcher Njuki Githethwa shared reflections on Kenya’s Second Liberation and the mothers of political prisoners, women who organised, protested and demanded justice for their loved ones. Their struggles recalled the often-unrecognised role of women in political transformation and connected the experiences of past generations of resistance with the organizing taking place today.

The presence of the World March of Women’s symbols and the participation of feminists from different African contexts also reflected the international character of the movement: rooted in local realities while connected through shared struggles and collective political action.

Imagining feminist economies

The question of transformation also extended to the economy.

Participants worked collectively to imagine feminist economic alternatives rooted in their own experiences. Using the image of a tree, groups mapped the roots of economic injustice, the mechanisms needed for change, and the fruits of a feminist economy.

The roots identified realities such as exploitation, inequality, the undervaluing of labour and unpaid care work. The trunk represented mechanisms for transformation, including collective organising, the recognition and redistribution of care, social protection and dignified conditions for casual and informal workers. The fruits represented the societies movements are fighting to build: dignified living, economic security and decent work.

Participants moved between the different groups and contributed to one another’s proposals, turning the exercise into a collective process of political imagination.

This methodology reflects the broader spirit of Afro-IFOS: knowledge is not something delivered to participants but something built collectively from lived experiences, political analysis and shared struggle.

Building collective power through feminist organizing

The first days of Afro-IFOS have established a strong foundation for the journey ahead. From Ubuntu and collective care to the analysis of oppression and power, from Kenya’s history of resistance to the construction of feminist economic alternatives, the school is creating connections between where we come from, the realities we face today and the world we are fighting to build.

At the centre is a simple but profound question: I am because we are. But are we?

For feminist movements, Ubuntu cannot remain a principle we invoke at the beginning of meetings. It asks us to practise solidarity, care and accountability in the ways we organise. It asks us to recognise difference without allowing it to become division, to build collective power without reproducing hierarchies, and to remain committed to one another while confronting the systems of oppression that shape our lives.

The Afro-International Feminist Organizing School continues until 19 September, creating further spaces for political education, collective reflection and movement-building among feminists across Africa.